We're absolutely sure that 2020 is going to turn out to be a vintage year for art. We just haven't had much chance to appreciate it so far. The world's artists have been trapped indoors just as much as the rest of us have, and their work has mostly gone unseen. All over the planet, art galleries have been closed down, and our exposure to the arts has been dramatically reduced because of it. In some countries, like the United Kingdom, people who work in the arts have even been advised to retrain because their chosen careers may no longer be financially advisable in the post-pandemic world. Most artists have paid no heed to this. They'll have been working away on art inspired by this trying time, and hopefully, we'll be able to see the fruits of their labors soon.

While we might not be able to go out and enjoy art as much as we’d all ideally like to right now, 2021 is shaping up to be a very different year - one in which one of the greatest names in the history of art will see their work head out ‘on tour’ across the world in a series of totally immersive displays and exhibitions. That artist is Vincent van Gogh, and his ‘headline tour’ will be stopping off in Indianapolis in 2021, giving art lovers the opportunity to appreciate his work in a way that’s never been attempted before, and wouldn’t have been possible were it not for the very latest advances in technology.

Not many artists have a repertoire that would support this kind of exhibition, but van Gogh isn't any old artist. His life and work inspire a sort of passion and devotion in people that few others can match. That's why there's a Netflix TV series about his life in the works at the moment. It's why the episode of "Doctor Who" that focused on him is one of the most emotional pieces of television we've ever seen. Van Gogh has even influenced online slots websites such as Money Reels. There's a (seemingly officially licensed) van Gogh online slots game that takes his paintings and puts them on the reels of a gambling attraction. The only other artist who can claim to have had their work turned into an online slots attraction is Leonardo da Vinci, who's become the posthumous star of online slots like "Double da Vinci Diamonds" and "da Vinci's Treasure." For an artist to be used this way proves that they've taken their place in mainstream popular consciousness - and that's what makes them marketable for an attraction like the one we're going to see in Indianapolis.

The new attraction, which has been described as a 'multi-sensory exhibit,' will land at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields on an unspecified date in June of next year. An Australian company called Grande Experiences has put the exhibition together, and named it "The Lume." it looks broadly similar to an exhibition which is happening in Australia at the moment called "Van Gogh Alive," but the organizers have promised some additional features for American audiences that aren't available as part of the current Australian display. The company prides itself on being able to offer the public access to art in a way that wouldn't be possible inside a traditional art gallery, shedding new light on the work and the processes that went into making it.

One whole floor of the Indianapolis museum will turn into an interactive three-dimensional exhibition, with 150 high-tech projectors displaying van Gogh’s life and work across an area that will cover thirty thousand square feet. All of van Gogh’s most famous paintings will acquire depth, taking the original two-dimensional work and placing it into a three-dimensional virtual reality realm that visitors will be able to walk through. Some of the paintings - “The Starry Night,” for example, have been animated and turned into moving images. While some traditionalists will no doubt feel that this amounts to editing or altering the artist’s original vision, others will hopefully agree that any new way to persuade a modern audience to engage with the great works of the past is a good thing. Period appropriate music is also included in the exhibition, with drinking and dining options available for those who would like to stick around and enjoy this strange new world a little longer.

Grande Exhibitions, as an entertainment company, has extensive experience in this field. Aside from the aforementioned “Van Gogh Alive” in Australia, they were also responsible for “The Leonardo da Vinci Collection,” “Monet and Friends,” and the slightly less highbrow “Planet Shark: Predator or Prey.” In all cases, the exhibitions have been met with positive reviews. More than six million people have bought tickets for Grande Exhibitions products in the past, and the company has visited over fifty different cities all over the world. The standard running time for this latest van Gogh event is slated to run for 45 hours, but visitors are welcome to stay for longer and admire the art at their leisure if they so desire. The experience of walking through the exhibition will amount to an interactive biography of the artist’s life, work, and eventual death, but tries to find beauty and positivity in among the sadness.

Tickets are not yet available for the June 2021 event, but that situation is likely to change in the near future. We're not immediately clear on why the precise dates for the exhibition aren't yet known, so we can only assume that the finer details haven't yet been agreed upon. It's likely that the exhibition will only run for a short time - perhaps a month or less - so if you are interested in going, it would be advisable to acquire tickets as soon as they go on sale. Should the event be successful - which seems likely - further dates across the United States of America and Europe are likely to be booked. You might have seen everything van Gogh has ever done if you're a keen admirer of his work - but unless you've been lucky enough to go to the Australian exhibition, you won't have experienced it like this before. It's not one to miss - so let's hope that our current situation has been relaxed enough to allow it to go ahead as planned next June.